Lucia Salinas
07/08/2020 - 9:52
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Before the judge Julián Ercolini, the prosecutor in charge of Gerardo Pollicita requested the general inhibition of the assets of the former directors of Banco Nación during the administration of Mauricio Macri, as requested by the Financial Information Unit (UIF), and also requested that the The same measure applies to the directors of the Vicentin Group and that there is also a general inhibition of assets with respect to the legal entities Vicentin SA and Algodonera Avellaneda SA and the prohibition of innovating on their shareholding composition. The request was formulated in the framework of the investigation of the credits for $ 18,500 million that the previous government granted to the cereal company, today in bankruptcy.
The request reaches Javier González Fraga, Lucas Llach, Agustín Pesce, Miguel Ángel Arce, among other former officials of the Nation, and the representatives of the company Roberto Vicentin, Osvaldo L. Boschi, Martín S. Colombo, Hernán R. Vicentin, Alberto Macua, Máximo Padoan, Daniel Buyatti and Sergio Nardelli . It is a very harsh opinion, where the prosecutor considers as corroborated the "collusion" of these actors, in favor of the company and affecting the interests of the State.
When justifying the request for the inhibition of assets, Pollicita indicated: "The officials involved have technical knowledge that would allow them to quickly dispose of their assets ." As for the entrepreneurs, she pointed out that together with the companies "they own and are part of a corporate conglomerate of numerous companies where they mobilize goods or money, they have a structure of accountants, notaries and lawyers with the capacity to transfer money,.
The case that the prosecutor Pollicita is carrying out began as a result of the complaint based on the first report prepared by Claudio Lozano, current director of the bank, who analyzed the economic situation of the firm and the loans granted by the previous management of the public entity, when the company publicly announced that it was in a situation of "financial stress" that would not allow it to meet its obligations.
The complaint highlighted the possible existence of a maneuver by which the National State would have been harmed "through the irregular granting of loans by the Banco de la Nación Argentina in favor of the firm Vicentin SA, which allowed the company to accumulate a debt with the bank of 18,500 million pesos , which currently would be of uncertain collection since the company is in a state of cessation of payments. "
Prosecutor Pollicita has already confirmed some of the maneuvers . In the opinion to which Clarín agreed , in which he asked for the inhibition of assets, he maintains that "the officials of the BNA, sometimes by action and sometimes by omission, deliberately failed to comply with the duties in their charge and harmed the interests entrusted to the administration of the funds of the bank ".
This is sustained, according to the prosecution in the "irregular granting of millionaire credits in foreign currency to the firms Vicentin SA and Algodonera Avellaneda SA, departing from the internal regulations that regulate it , and then they failed to execute in a timely manner the guarantees that the contracts to recover the money that was owed. "
In turn, the records collected so far "make it possible to affirm that, on the other hand, the businessmen of the Vicentin firm colluded with the officials , requested the irregular loans, required the release of the funds affected as collateral, while simultaneously postponing the payment of its obligations, so that finally, when the bank authorities wanted to collect the debt, there would be no funds left where the BNA could do so. "
The maneuver
In its opinion, the prosecution stated that as a result of the documentation provided by Banco Nación, it was granted a line of credit for foreign trade operations from 06/14/2018 to 04/30/2019. Up to US $ 300,000,000 was loaned to him. But since it expired, "the BNA authorities have benefited the firms VICENTÍN and ALGODONERA AVELLANEDA by continuing to assist them on credit when they were not authorized to do so."
For this, they first granted two extensions to the current rating "when the companies had already exceeded the maximum limit established in the last board resolution," said the prosecutor. They then granted new loans to the VICENTÍN firm "without having a current rating, the firm having a past due debt with the bank and the customer being exceeded by the limits set by the BCRA." Simultaneously they allowed the holders of VICENTÍN "to withdraw the funds that were deposited as collateral in the bank."
Regardless of these circumstances, "said Pollicita," that is, "debt overdue for more than 80 days and excess regulations," the BNA authorities "decided to grant 28 new loans to VICENTIN for a total of USD 105,500,000 despite the fact that by that time the BCRA itself had repeatedly intimidated the bank to fit in with current regulations. "
Thus, while the unpaid debt of VICENTÍN with the BNA increased, in the accounts that the firm had as collateral in the bank itself "almost 800 million dollars and more than 2,000 million pesos entered, which were reserved to ensure collection" of a debt that already amounted to US $ 300 million, but from the Bank "they allowed the businessmen to withdraw that money" and when the new management wanted to collect said funds "the accounts were practically empty".